So I have now planned out at least a rough working schedule of albums and recordings to listen to and review/discuss for the entirety of 2011. There are a few issues I've run into so far I want to at least address up front, and if there's anybody reading this, I'm all for feedback.
365 albums or works of music literature seems like a lot, but to sum up the experience of classical, jazz, and mainstream music within a year does not. Thus, there are judgment decisions to be made left and right. First off, "What qualifies a work to make this exclusive list?" Actually, everything seems to revolve around this first question to begin with. Rolling Stone Magazine's November 2003 issue listed (subjectively, of course,) the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Regardless of the subjectivity of their criteria, this seemed as good a place as any for most of the mainstream pop/rock repertoire, at least that dating before 1989. Between Tuesdays dedicated to this era and genre and end-of-the-month catch-all days, at least to top 60 or so I believe are covered in this draft.
This however, led to another conundrum. Diversity vs. Depth. For example, I knew dedicating one day a month to The Beatles would give me a deep knowledge of their work, I felt this was justified in that their repertoire is profoundly influential to pretty much all Western popular music since. However, is the same true of Bob Dylan? What about the Rolling Stones? Jimi Hendrix? These (and other) names popped up incredibly frequently going down RS's 500 list. Do I delve into them out of respect for their merits and influence or skip over some of their works in favor of a wider array of artists and bands? Likewise, how do I approach (or avoid) the "Greatest Hits" collections? Do they deny the idea of the album or record as the whole unit in favor of a song-by-song approach? Is that what I'm looking for?
I ran into the same issues with classical and jazz recordings as well. I could have easily dedicated the symphonies for January through September to all nine symphonies of Beethoven, and I know I wouldn't have hit a clunker among them. But how do I balance that with a more diverse repertoire? I tried to limit the classical lists to one piece per composer in any given month, but even then, the breadth of works by the greats made this itself a challenge.
In jazz, there were similar balancing acts; is there such a thing as too much Miles Davis or John Coltrane? Looking up various internet lists of "must listen to's", sure, I could find lists of a dozen different trumpeters to feature through the year, but then what ends up on the cutting room floor? Kind of Blue or The Birth of the Cool? Do I hit twelve different sax players and sacrifice either A Love Supreme or Giant Steps? Or, do I skip seminal works I'm already familiar with to make room for stuff I don't know?
Also, how much am I reviewing, writing about, critiquing, analyzing or speaking from my own musical experience? Unapologetically, the primary goal of this project is my own education. I'd be thrilled to bits if people come to follow this on a daily basis, comment on it and so on and so forth, but I'm journaling my own musical journey for the education of my own musical palate first and foremost. Is that being selfish? I don't think so; I'm doing the legwork to track down (and fund) the recordings and organize this whole experience. I hope others gain something from it, but make no apologies if my perspective and analysis is less than objective and even reflective at times. I'd love to hear your comments and perspectives, but reserve the right to my own.
With that said, I've already written the first couple of album reviews - I figure if I can write ahead of time and publish daily, I'm less likely to fall behind. That leaves a question to my "loyal readers," whomever they may be; should I announce albums to come ahead of time or wait until the day of? If so, how far in advance? A week? A day? One at a time or a week/month at a time? Right now, I'm going to lean toward one at a time, a week ahead, but if you have a preference, let me know.
Also, never having blogged before, if someone wants to help show me how "spruce up" this project, I'd be grateful. Things like posting album artwork, links to the album of the day on iTunes, stuff like that. Even formatting the layout into something a little more personal. I'd bake you cookies. Or dedicate an album to your choice. Or something creative - name your price. :)
365 albums or works of music literature seems like a lot, but to sum up the experience of classical, jazz, and mainstream music within a year does not. Thus, there are judgment decisions to be made left and right. First off, "What qualifies a work to make this exclusive list?" Actually, everything seems to revolve around this first question to begin with. Rolling Stone Magazine's November 2003 issue listed (subjectively, of course,) the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Regardless of the subjectivity of their criteria, this seemed as good a place as any for most of the mainstream pop/rock repertoire, at least that dating before 1989. Between Tuesdays dedicated to this era and genre and end-of-the-month catch-all days, at least to top 60 or so I believe are covered in this draft.
This however, led to another conundrum. Diversity vs. Depth. For example, I knew dedicating one day a month to The Beatles would give me a deep knowledge of their work, I felt this was justified in that their repertoire is profoundly influential to pretty much all Western popular music since. However, is the same true of Bob Dylan? What about the Rolling Stones? Jimi Hendrix? These (and other) names popped up incredibly frequently going down RS's 500 list. Do I delve into them out of respect for their merits and influence or skip over some of their works in favor of a wider array of artists and bands? Likewise, how do I approach (or avoid) the "Greatest Hits" collections? Do they deny the idea of the album or record as the whole unit in favor of a song-by-song approach? Is that what I'm looking for?
I ran into the same issues with classical and jazz recordings as well. I could have easily dedicated the symphonies for January through September to all nine symphonies of Beethoven, and I know I wouldn't have hit a clunker among them. But how do I balance that with a more diverse repertoire? I tried to limit the classical lists to one piece per composer in any given month, but even then, the breadth of works by the greats made this itself a challenge.
In jazz, there were similar balancing acts; is there such a thing as too much Miles Davis or John Coltrane? Looking up various internet lists of "must listen to's", sure, I could find lists of a dozen different trumpeters to feature through the year, but then what ends up on the cutting room floor? Kind of Blue or The Birth of the Cool? Do I hit twelve different sax players and sacrifice either A Love Supreme or Giant Steps? Or, do I skip seminal works I'm already familiar with to make room for stuff I don't know?
Also, how much am I reviewing, writing about, critiquing, analyzing or speaking from my own musical experience? Unapologetically, the primary goal of this project is my own education. I'd be thrilled to bits if people come to follow this on a daily basis, comment on it and so on and so forth, but I'm journaling my own musical journey for the education of my own musical palate first and foremost. Is that being selfish? I don't think so; I'm doing the legwork to track down (and fund) the recordings and organize this whole experience. I hope others gain something from it, but make no apologies if my perspective and analysis is less than objective and even reflective at times. I'd love to hear your comments and perspectives, but reserve the right to my own.
With that said, I've already written the first couple of album reviews - I figure if I can write ahead of time and publish daily, I'm less likely to fall behind. That leaves a question to my "loyal readers," whomever they may be; should I announce albums to come ahead of time or wait until the day of? If so, how far in advance? A week? A day? One at a time or a week/month at a time? Right now, I'm going to lean toward one at a time, a week ahead, but if you have a preference, let me know.
Also, never having blogged before, if someone wants to help show me how "spruce up" this project, I'd be grateful. Things like posting album artwork, links to the album of the day on iTunes, stuff like that. Even formatting the layout into something a little more personal. I'd bake you cookies. Or dedicate an album to your choice. Or something creative - name your price. :)
